The Next Stage
by Gems0ng
Summary: After years with the Stargate program it was bound to catch up with Jack in some fashion.
1. Chapter 1

**The Next Stage**

By Gemsong

Genre: Angst/Drama/Kidfic

Summary: After years with the Stargate program it was bound to catch up with Jack in some fashion.

Spoilers: Everything up to New Order but before Jack gets promoted to General.

Warning: Weirdness, My spelling and my grammar

Disclaimer: Not mine. I stole them without permission and not likely to give them back. Don't expect them to be in the condition I found them. Where's the fun in that?

Author's Note: Yes, I know what you're thinking. Patience, grasshoppers.

Feedback: Yes. Flames: No

Chapter 1

Colonel Jack O'Neill woke up with a headache. During the last two weeks he had awakened with a headache that had been getting progressively worse every day. It was usually after having rather intense dreams of his past. But it was also after dreams of death, murder and mayhem. In those dreams he was a goa'uld. Other dreams were of things and places he had never seen or been and doing things he didn't understand and those dreams left the worst morning headaches. It was definitely one of the latter headache types.

With a sigh he rolled over onto his back and put his arm over his eyes to block out the daylight that was trying to steal its way through the curtains of his bedroom. He focused on his tenure with the SGC he had pretty much done it all mostly to partially block out the memory of the dream. Sometimes it seemed to help.

Let's see. He had been snaked twice. Once had been by Hathor and one of her pets, as if being turned into a Jaffa hadn't been bad enough the first time they met her. Then he got his body hijacked by the Tok'ra Kanan and ended up being tortured by Ba'al for who knows how long. Sarcophagus withdrawal sucked too.

Of course he had to add the ancient libraries downloaded into his brain not once, but twice and mentally interfacing with an Asgard computer after the second time which enabled him to come up with an anti-replicator gun. Jack wondered how much worse it could possibly get. It all sounded like the worst episodes from Wormhole X-treme.

But the reality was that it did happen. All of it. Thor had said the knowledge had been removed again, however the last couple weeks was making him wonder if that were true. Lately the dreams seemed to crowd into his mind so much he didn't know where he was much less who he was.

The phone beside his bed began to ring which sent additional pain spiking through his head. He picked up the phone and answered with a pained snarl.

"What?!"

"Jack?" It was the voice of Daniel Jackson.

"Who else would answer the phone here?" Jack growled as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "What do you want?"

Daniel seemed to hesitate. "Jack, we had a briefing at eight thirty with SG-5 and…."

"I know that," Jack interrupted with a snap. "Get to the point."

"Jack, its eleven thirty am," Daniel said unable to keep the concern out of his voice.

Jack's eyes flew open in shock. "What?" he asked in a weak voice.

"I've been calling you every fifteen minutes," Daniel continued. "This is the first time you answered. If you hadn't General Hammond would have sent a team to find you." Daniel paused. "Jack, are you all right?"

"Fine," Jack replied forcing himself to sit up. "Just a headache. I'll be there in thirty minutes." Without allowing Daniel to say more he hung up the phone.

He rested his aching head in his hands. He had slept through not only his alarm but the repeated phone calls. He never even heard them. He must have been more tired than he thought. Although, the night before he had such a hard time getting to sleep he had resorted to a shot of bourbon to help him relax. While this was not his typical behavior, one shot wasn't enough to explain why he had slept so deeply.

After returning from the Asgard home world, SG-1 had been given two weeks of down time to recover from the physical and emotional aftermath. Jack was not enjoying his downtime with the constant pain and fatigue. He was able to fake it on team night during the first week. They were all tired and a little unfocused. Carter had been rather rattled after her experience with Fifth. Now this.

Maybe there was something wrong with him. Something Frasier did catch on his post mission physical. But Janet had been very thorough with her testing. Thor had said he was in perfect physical health however the CMO had to make sure for herself. Everything had come back normal except for the fatigue. Janet wouldn't have let him leave the base if she had found the slightest anomaly.

Jack sighed and started to get up. The room spun drunkenly around him sending him falling back onto the bed as a shaft of pain sliced through his head making him see a burst of brilliant light that plunged him into a senseless blackness.

oOo

"Colonel O'Neill has not checked in," Hammond announced as her reentered the conference room. The remainder of SG-1 looked at him with growing concern.

Major Samantha Carter looked at Daniel. Did you try calling him again?" she asked.

Daniel nodded. "A couple of times," he replied. "There was no answer. Though he was in a foul mood and since he has caller ID could be ignoring me."

Teal frowned slightly. "This is most unlike O'Neill," he said. "Have any of you spoken to him since 'team night?"

Daniel and Sam exchanged looks and shook their heads. It was obvious that none of them had spoken to Jack in almost two weeks. Daniel felt a stab of guilt. During long downtimes, Jack would call him to do something 'fun'. But this time that hadn't happened this time. He had been spending his down time doing some personal research and had accomplished a lot. The stab of guilt grew sharper. He should have suspected something was wrong.

"Why don't the three of us go to his house," Daniel said.

Sam nodded getting up from the table. "We can take the route he usually drives just in case his truck broke down or something," she said. She felt guilty as well. If Jack had a breakdown then he would have called on his cell and he wasn't answering that either. He could have had an accident.

Hammond nodded to the three of them. "Let me know what you find," he said. He was just as concerned about Jack as they were.

"Yes, sir," Sam said and she turned to follow Daniel and Teal'c from the conference room.

oOo

They drove Daniel's car which had the leg room to accommodate Teal'c's long legs. They took the route that Jack normally drove from his home directly to the base. They saw nothing out of the ordinary. There were no accidents on the side of the road which relieved at least one concern.

When they pulled up to Jack's house they saw his black SUV still parked in the driveway. Daniel pulled up beside it. The three of them quickly got out of the car and ran to the front door. Teal'c rang the bell but there was no answer. The three exchanged looks and Sam pulled out her spare key. They all had one, even Teal'c.

They stepped inside the quiet house. All seemed normal enough. It had changed over the last few years they had known each other. Jack had an addition built on to accommodate a couple more bedrooms and a bath. There had been more than one occasion when "Team Night" turned into over night stay. Jack had said he liked the fact that they could all stay over if they needed to with being crowded and struggling to sleep on a lumpy couch.

"Jack?" Daniel called out. There was no answer.

Systematically they began to search the house periodically calling Jack's name and not getting an answer.

"I found him!" Sam yelled.

Sam had entered the master bedroom and found Jack lying on his back clad only in a pair of sweat pants. Daniel and Teal'c hurried in to join her. Sam moved over to the bed. "His skin is clammy," she said as she took his wrist. "Pulse rapid. Shallow breathing."

"What's wrong with him?" Daniel asked worried.

"I don't know," Sam asked. "Call the base. Have them send an ambulance."

"It will be more efficient to take him there," Teal'c said firmly.

"Do you think we should move him?" Daniel asked.

"We do not have a choice," Teal'c replied. He wrapped the blanket around Jack's body and seemed to lift his limp form with ease.

As Teal'c carried his friend down the stairs, Sam was on her cell phone to the base. As they were putting Jack into the back seat of his SUV she reached in to check his pulse again.

"I will drive," Teal'c said. "Major Carter will come with me. Daniel Jackson, you will meet us there."

None of them argued. "I spoke to General Hammond," Sam said. "A medical team will be waiting for us at the top."

Teal'c maneuvered the large vehicle out of the driveway and head out at high speed and with more than some skill. Daniel followed in his car trying to keep up and hoping that they weren't too late in helping Jack.

To Be Continued…..


	2. Chapter 2

**The Next Stage**

By Gemsong

Genre: Angst/Drama/Kidfic

Summary: After so many years with the Stargate program things were bound to catch up with Jack in some fashion.

Spoilers: Everything up to New Order but before Jack gets promoted to General

Warning: Weirdness, My spelling and My Grammar

Disclaimer: Not mine. I stole them without permission and not likely to give them back. Don't expect them to be in the condition I found them. Where's the fun in that?

Author's Note: You're wondering what I'm going to do to him, aren't you? Like I haven't whumped Jack enough

Chapter 2

By the time both vehicles reached the Cheyenne Mountain Complex it was clear that Hammond had called ahead to expedite their entrance. The gates were open as the airman waved them through recognizing Jack's truck and Teal'c behind the wheel. It would be anyone's guess if Teal'c would have stopped for the security check.

It did not show on his determined face but he was deeply concerned about Jack. During the drive Jack had moaned a few times and muttered something incoherent but he had never regained consciousness.

Teal'c drove the truck into the tunnel itself which was normally forbidden but there were no calls for him to stop. If anything the way had been cleared for them. At the huge door that gave access to the interior of the mountain Janet and her medical team are waiting for them. Jack was quickly transferred from the back seat and on to a gurney for the trip down into the mountain.

While Teal'c took the truck back down and out of the tunnel, Sam followed Janet and the unconscious Jack to the elevator pausing only long enough to sign them both in. She barely managed to catch up and squish into the elevator with them.

"We found him unconscious," Sam said in answer to Janet's unasked question. "He spoke to Daniel a couple of hours ago on the phone but that's the only time we've heard from him. He said something about a headache and hung up."

Janet's concern for her patient was clear. What could have happened in two weeks? She did a cursory examination as the elevator took them downwards. They switched elevators for the rest of the journey but Janet did not like what she was seeing as the gurney was wheeled into the infirmary.

The use of her penlight usually elicited a grunt of displeasure from the colonel. This time there was no reaction at all. His eyes were fully dilated but didn't react to the change in light. He was also breathing shallowly and Janet worried about his oxygen level even as his blood pressure level dipped to a dangerously low level.

Sam found herself shuffled out of the infirmary to wait for the results. It wasn't long before Daniel and Teal'c joined her. But the wait for results was turning out to be very long as Janet ran a battery of tests from blood cultures to X-rays, MRIs and PET scans. It was hours later before the doctor came out to the worried team.

"Colonel O'Neill is stable for the moment," Janet said.

"For the moment?" Daniel asked his arms crossed tightly around his chest.

Janet nodded. "I'll be briefing General Hammond in about 15 minutes," she said. "I'll explain my findings then."

Before Daniel could register a protest and demand information, Janet spun deftly on her heel and slipped back into the infirmary. She knew she would be facing a barrage of questions, many of which she had yet to find the answer to.

oOo

A short time later in the main conference room, Dr. Fraiser sat with a stack of folders in front of her. At the end of the table sat General Hammond. Across from her, worried looks boring into her, was the remainder of SG-1. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair trying to decide how to break the news.

"You have the results of your tests, Doctor?" Hammond asked.

Janet nodded. "Yes, sir," she replied. She opened the folder. "I did a complete work up on Colonel O'Neill." She pulled a picture of a PET scan from the folder and moved to the center of the table where they all could see. "This is a copy of the scan we did of the colonel when you first returned from the Asgard ship. It is near normal, almost identical to the scan we took when he first downloaded the library of the ancients into his brain."

She glanced down at her folder. "All his test results were normal when he came back," she continued. "He was in perfect health which I attributed to the Asgard healing machines. That has changed." Janet added another picture to the center of the table. This scan showed large areas of red and yellow."

"This looks like the ones you showed us when he had the library in his brain," Sam said picking up the picture. "Just… more so."

"It's the same," Janet replied.

"But the Asgard removed it," Daniel protested. "Jack said he couldn't remember anything after he was returned to his body."

Teal'c frowned slightly. "But he knew the device he had created while interfaced with the Asgard computers was a weapon," he said.

"Thor said the information was removed," Daniel said.

"I think Thor was wrong," Janet replied. All eyes turned to her. "Jack's body is shutting down. His brain is unable to cope with all that information and maintain his body functions."

Hammond looked stricken. "Doctor, are you saying Colonel O'Neill is dying?"

Janet swallowed hard. "Yes, sir," she answered without hesitation. "There is nothing I can do to stop it. The best I can manage is to relieve some of his pain."

"General, permission to contact the Asgard," Sam said rising from her seat.

"Of course," Hammond said. That was all Sam needed for dismissal. She was out of the door in seconds and on her way to the control room.

"Until the Asgard show up, all we can do now is wait," Janet said.

"Considering how much they owe Jack," Daniel said. "They better fix this."

Hammond glanced at Daniel with a raised eyebrow. "Channeling Jack?" he asked.

Daniel flushed. It was something Jack would say. "Sorry, general."

"Perhaps the Tok'ra could provide a temporary solution?" Teal'c suggested.

"How so?" Hammond asked.

"Genetic memory," Janet replied. "Their minds hold a great deal of information."

"Jack would rather die than go through that again," Daniel said.

"Indeed," Teal'c said nodding in agreement. "They would find it difficult to resist the urge to use the knowledge they gain from him."

Hammond nodded as well. "We will save that option for a last resort," he said. "For now, you are dismissed."

oOo

Many hours later, Daniel was sitting at Jack's bedside. The soft beeps of the machines attached to him were the only sounds in the isolation room. A book was open on his lap but the words meant nothing to him. He was too caught up in his own thoughts and wracked with guilt.

No matter how many times he wished Jack would leave him alone to do his work he now realized he didn't really mean it. Jack was a constant in his life. His family. The annoying older brother who pretended he didn't get the intellectual stuff. That myth had been more than crushed over the past eight years. Jack was not the 'dumb colonel' act he put on. How many people could gain a working knowledge of Latin in less than three months?

But it wasn't just that. Jack had become his family in so many ways. It was always Jack who took him home with him when the world became too much for him. It was Jack who filled the empty spaces in his soul with trust and loyalty. He was close to Sam and Teal'c and he considered them family as well, but his connection to Jack was deeper. He was closer to Jack than anyone else in his life.

He almost didn't catch the movement from the corner of his eye. He lifted his head to see Jack's hand move, the fingers twitching. Daniel got up to stand beside the bed and put his hand over his friend's.

"Jack? Can you hear me?" he asked.

"Etiam. Ego audite vosm" Jack replied his voice barely above a whisper.

Daniel stared at him in shock. Jack had answered in Latin instead of English. "How do you feel?" he asked slowly.

"Ego sentio valde nocens," Jack said with a groan as he shifted restlessly on the bed.

"I'll get Janet," Daniel said and walked over to the phone. Even as he notified Janet and then called the rest of the team his mind was still processing what Jack had said. Jack had understood him, but was answering in Latin not English and he didn't even seem aware of the fact. The previous occasions when Jack had downloaded the library of the ancients into his brain it was only a short time before he was unable to communicate in any language other than that of the Ancients.

He soon heard the distinctive click of Dr. Fraiser's heels coming down the hall and into the room. "What's wrong?" she asked immediately as she made her way to Jack's bedside. She lowered the bar and then lifted his wrist to take his pulse.

"He's awake," Daniel said moving back to the other side of the bed.

"Summitto vestri vox vocis," Jack growled.

Janet looked up in surprise at Jack. "What?"

"He wants us to lower our voices," Daniel said dropping his own voice to a near whisper.

"Ego narro mihi," Jack grumbled.

"Jack, you're not speaking English," Daniel said. "You obviously understand what I'm saying but you're answering in Latin."

"Ego sum?"

At that moment Sam and Teal'c stepped into the room. Daniel stepped away from Jack's bed and moved toward them. "Keep your voices, down," he said.

Janet turned Jack's face toward her. "You know the drill, colonel," she said. She lifted his eyelid and clicked on her penlight shining it into his eyes to check the pupil reaction.

The reaction was as unexpected as it was fast. Jack cried out in agony, his hands came up grabbing Janet's wrists. Every machine attached to him began a cacophony of alarms. For a long moment Jack and Janet's eyes were locked as one by one each of the machines shorted out as it was pushed beyond its limits.

The air was filled with smoke and the sparking of broken equipment. "Jack!? Janet!?" Daniel called out. The three team members moved closer to the bed. Jack appeared to have lost consciousness. His hands were still holding Janet's wrists as she lay across his lap equally unconscious.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**The Next Stage**

By Gemsong

Genre: Angst/Drama/Kidfic

Summary: After so many years with the Stargate program things were bound to catch up with Jack in some fashion.

Spoilers: Everything up to New Order but before Jack gets promoted to General and Janet didn't die in Heroes.

Warning: My weirdness, My spelling and My Grammar (spell-check doesn't fix everything)

Disclaimer: Not mine. I stole them without permission and not likely to give them back. Don't expect them to be in same the condition I found them. Where's the fun in that?

Author's Note: Thanks for all the wonderful feedback I've been getting. It keeps me going. Sorry I took so long to get this out. Thanks for your patience. And now a whumping I will go.

Chapter 3

The isolation room was suddenly filled with emergency medical techs. The exploding machines had raised alarms throughout the infirmary. The three member of SG-1 were pushed aside from the throng now around the bed. With Janet now unconscious, Dr. Warner stepped in.

The team could only catch a glimpse of what was going on as the ventilators cleared the smoke from the room. Daniel caught a glimpse of the effort it took to remove Janet's wrists from Jack's grip. Bruises were already forming on her fair skin. Replacement monitors were being brought in and Jack was reconnected to the monitoring system.

Janet was moved to a gurney and Warner bent over her to check her vital signs, issuing orders in a calm steady voice. He looked up and saw Sam, Teal'c and Daniel standing against the far wall watching him. He pointed to the door. Daniel started to protest, but Warner simply waggled his finger at him and pointed to the door again. The message was clear. Get out of the way and that meant out of the infirmary.

The worst part was the waiting. Sitting outside the infirmary did them no good. Nurses and technicians would run in and out but none of them would stop long enough to tell them what was going on. Dr. Warner on the other hand did stop. Long enough to tell them to eat and get some rest and he would call if there was any news.

Morning came but there was still no word, neither from the Asgard or Dr. Warner. Whatever was going on was serious. Daniel noticed that from the expressions of those who were caring for their friends. On orders from Dr. Warner the medical staff would not speak of what was going on or the condition of Jack or Janet. An educated guess meant that Janet could still be unconscious as a result of what occurred between her and Jack.

Dr. Warner found them hovering again and shooed them off. He promised they would be called to the meeting when he finished getting the test results. For now, they would have to wait. Elsewhere.

It was close to lunch following day when the call came for SG-1 to meet General Hammond in the main conference room. They were waiting anxiously. Daniel's eyes were red and he appeared immersed in his cup of bad cold coffee, but it was the only thing that was keeping him going. Sam kept trying to cover up yawns, but her face was pale and there were dark circles under her eyes. Teal'c look… normal. Only those who knew him well could see the tightness around his mouth and the worry hidden deep in those dark eyes.

Doctor Warner entered the room carrying a stack of folders larger than the stack that Janet had brought in when they met about Jack's condition. Soon after General Hammond entered the room and the group came to attention more or less. As he sat down all eyes turned toward the doctor.

"Bottom line, doctor?" Hammond began without preamble. He was not in the mood to work up to the bad news he knew was coming.

Warner sighed and nodded. "Bottom line sir," he said. "Colonel O'Neill is now in a coma and on life support. His condition continues to deteriorate and I do not believe he'll survive another twenty four hours."

Various expressions of shock faced him. The 'bottom line' had hit them with the force of a concrete block on the back of the head.

"What about Doctor Fraiser?" Hammond asked in a tight voice.

Warner looked down at the folders in front of him. "Dr. Fraiser is also in a coma," he said. "Though her condition isn't as serious as the colonel's there is no doubt she will follow the same pattern of deterioration."

Hammond's hands were pressed flat against the table. "Are you saying this is contagious?" he asked.

"No, no," Warner denied.

"Then how can she possibly have the same condition as the colonel?" Hammond asked.

The doctor handed out the folders that were stacked in front of him to the others around the table. "Dr. Fraiser's notes indicate that the Ancient library that is overloading Colonel O'Neill's brain is also changing him in other ways physically. We know the Ancients had certain physical abilities such as healing." He paused as they opened their folders. "What you are looking at are series of scans taken of Dr. Fraiser's brain. As you can see from the PET scans, the changes to her brain are becoming a match to the Colonel's."

"Jack downloaded the Ancient library into Janet?" Daniel asked in disbelief.

"That is my theory," Warner said. "Something in all that knowledge inside of him recognized that Dr. Fraiser carries the ancient gene and his instinct made him copy the data into her brain. There could possibly be a telepathic component…"

Warner stopped speaking when he realized that Sam, Daniel and Teal'c were staring at him in visible shock. Shock on Daniel and Sam. Teal'c contained himself with an expression of mild surprise which for the Jaffa was the equivalent.

"Ancient gene?" Daniel said finally getting the word out. "Janet has the ancient gene?"

Hammond's face was the only one that held no real shock. "All members of the SGC were tested for the ancient gene," he said. "That information that was kept confidential."

"Did she know?" Sam asked.

Hammond nodded. "Yes," he said. "However, her skills were best served as chief of medical. She had neither the training nor inclination to be on a field team. Nor did I find it necessary for the information to be shared." He looked at Daniel. "You have the ATA gene as well. According to your files you didn't have it before you ascended."

Daniel blinked in surprise. "It would be the reason you can read and use ancient technology now," Teal'c said. "Additional information could also be suppressed."

Daniel nodded slowly. "It explains a lot," he said.

"So why didn't he react to Daniel when he was touching him," Sam asked.

Warner shrugged. "It could be that Dr. Jackson is already active and the colonel's instinct felt it wasn't necessary," he said. "But that is only a theory. We have no way of knowing for certain."

"Is there anything we can do for the colonel and the doctor?" Hammond asked.

Doctor Warner shook his head and sighed. "I'm sorry, but no sir," he said. "This is well beyond our means to deal with. Unless the Asgard can help there is nothing we can do. Colonel O'Neill will die and Doctor Fraiser soon after."

oOo

Daniel was sitting in the uncomfortable infirmary chair in the isolation room. On his right was Jack, the sound of the life support machinery loud in the room. To his left was Janet. She was not on life support but it was clear that her body was shutting down at a rate faster than could have been predicted.

When Jack had downloaded the ancient library it was days before the information overwrote his brain before overwhelming it. This was different. Janet didn't have days. Daniel looked up at a sound at the doorway. Sam was standing there, her shoulder against the doorjamb as she looked at Janet.

"Did you get a hold of Cassie?" he asked.

Sam nodded. "She's still on that tour in Europe with her class," she said. "I couldn't say much over the phone but she knows something's wrong. By the time she makes arrangements to get here….." She trailed off.

Daniel knew what she was thinking. By the time Cassie made it home, Janet would be dead and they wouldn't be able to tell her why her mother died. If Janet died, it would be because of Jack. Jack was a father figure to her and losing them both would be hard on a girl who watched her world die when she was twelve.

"I'm going to stay with them for a while," Daniel said. "Why don't you come back later?"

Sam nodded. "Thanks," she said softly. She turned and walked away. Daniel hadn't told her to get some rest. It would be a long time before any of them did.

Dr. Warner passed her on his way to check his patients. He nodded to Daniel as he checked Jack's vital signs. They exchanged a look. Warner shook his head slightly to Daniel's unasked question. Jack was still deteriorating.

Daniel sighed. "Do you think they know we're here?" he asked.

Warner paused then moved to check Janet's vitals. "It has been documented that comatose patients still react to their environment," he said. "I've read that often it was during the visit of a loved one or family member talking to them."

Daniel touched Jack's hand; the skin was cool beneath his fingers. "They're my family," he said.

Suddenly there was a brilliant flash of light in the room. Daniel whirled around as Warner staggered back shielding his eyes. The flash quickly resolved into the small grey form of the Asgard supreme commander Thor.

"Thor!" Daniel exclaimed. His heart leapt to his throat with hope.

"Dr. Jackson," Thor said. "I am sorry we could not arrive sooner."

"Better now than later," Daniel said without thought. A few more hours and it would have been too later for either of his friends. The Asgard could not bring back the dead.

"Major Carter's transmission explained the situation," Thor said.

"Can you save them?" Daniel asked.

"I do not know," Thor replied. His normally expressionless face showed a hint of discomfort. "I will transport them to my ship."

"I would like to observe," Warner interrupted. "They are my patients."

The little grey alien nodded. "Of course, doctor," he said. "Our doctors will need to consult with you."

Before Daniel could say another word the room was suddenly filled with multiple flashes of light. The next moment he was alone in the room. With a sigh he went to the phone to call General Hammond to let him know the Asgard had arrived.

To Be Continued


	4. Chapter 4

**The Next Stage**

By Gemsong

Genre: Angst/Drama/Kidfic

Summary: After so many years with the Stargate program things were bound to catch up with Jack in some fashion.

Spoilers: Everything up to New Order but before Jack gets promoted to General and Janet didn't die in Heroes.

Warning: Exposition. Don't you love exposition? Cue the music.

Disclaimer: Not mine. I stole them without permission and not likely to give them back. Don't expect them to be in same the condition I found them. Where's the fun in that?

Author's Note: Worshiping homage to my muse and beta. Any leftover mistakes are mine and mine alone. For those who are howling, calling me evil and mean, thank you. For those of you sitting on the edge of your seats, consider this a shove in the wrong direction.

----

This time, for Daniel, waiting was the hardest thing he ever had to do. Normally he was patient, a prerequisite for his chosen profession but waiting for news on the status of Jack and Janet was proving that for this kind of waiting he wasn't any good at it. He slouched in his office chair.

He had often thought of Jack as restless and impatient. He was always in constant motion in some manner. He would fiddle with pens, pick up random objects in Daniel or Sam's labs or pace around the room. But that was a physical restlessness. Jack was a man of action. But the more Daniel thought about it the more he realized that Jack was also a man of incredible patience. He showed that time and time again when Daniel was excited over a new find or the hours he would spend on Jack's couch after a bottle of beer and start babbling about anything and everything that came to mind. Jack listened. Jack always listened to him. Whether he was making sense or not, Jack would sit and listen for as long as it took.

Daniel looked up at the knock on his door as Sam poked her blond head in. "Hey," she said. "What are you doing?"

A wry smile touched his mouth. "Wallowing in self pity," he said. "Want to join me?"

Sam chuckled and came into the room. She snagged a stool and sat down. "I am so used to him popping into my lab," she said. "It makes me crazy, but I miss it. Is that weird or what?"

"How about when he calls my artifacts - rocks?" Daniel replied. "Or when he starts juggling them?" He looked over at a shelf. "I wish he was here."

"O'Neill is not dead," Teal'c's voice intoned from the doorway. Daniel and Sam looked to see the former Jaffa entering the room.

Sam smiled. "We're having a pity party, Teal'c," she said. "Want to join us?"

"For whom are we feeling pity?" he asked, an eyebrow pausing to visit his hairline.

Daniel waved a hand in the air. "Ourselves," he replied. "We're thinking of all the things that Jack does that make us nuts, and realizing we miss him not being here **driving** us nuts."

"Then you must discontinue this activity," Teal'c declared. "It has been more than 24 hours since the Asgard took O'Neill and Dr. Fraiser to the ship. Long past the time Dr. Warner gave them. If they were dead, Thor would have notified us."

"So, what do we talk about?" Daniel asked.

Sam sighed, resting her arms on the countertop. "What I want to know is what happened?" she said. "What caused this?"

Daniel shrugged. "I haven't a clue."

"Perhaps things were not as the Asgard presented them," Teal'c said. Both Sam and Daniel looked at him with a question in their eyes. He looked away from them for a moment. "Thor claimed that they removed the Ancient library from O'Neill's brain. But truly, how well do they know the human mind?"

Daniel furrowed his brow in thought. "They could have pushed it into his subconscious with a command not to return to it. Almost like a post hypnotic suggestion," he offered. "But why did it break out?"

"The Asgard computers," Sam said. "You said his mind was interfaced with it." Daniel and Teal'c both nodded. "The human mind is capable of a lot of things. A lot of them require power. The Asgard computers are powerful. The Ancient knowledge gave him the skill since both races were contemporaries." She shivered slightly at the memory of the time when her mind was housed in a cobbled together computer database an alien entity had created.

Before they could theorize further, the phone in Daniel's office rang. He got up and answered it. "Jackson."

He listened for a moment and then replaced the receiver. "Dr. Warner is back," he said. "He and General Hammond want to see us in the conference room."

A few minutes later the three members of SG-1 entered the conference room. Hammond was seated at the table looking strained. Warner was seated beside him looking worn and strained. Daniel noticed he didn't look upset which was a hopeful sign. Either that or the doctor had a very good poker face.

The team quickly took a seat. "Well?" Daniel asked impatiently.

Warner smiled tiredly. "Remind me to pack a lunch the next time I spend any time with the Asgard."

"The yellow ones are Thor's favorites," Sam said with a smirk.

"Yes… It was an… interesting experience," Warner said with a slightly pained expression.

"Dr. Warner, if you please," Hammond said. His impatience obvious but better contained than Daniel's.

Warner nodded. "Colonel O'Neill and Dr. Fraiser are alive," he said. "Thor will be bringing them back shortly. They needed some time to adjust."

"Adjust to what?" Daniel asked. "Was Thor able to save them?"

Before the exhausted doctor could respond there was a brilliant flash of light. For just an instant Daniel thought that three Asgard had beamed into the conference room. Then he blinked, unbelieving what he was seeing.

On either side of the small grey alien were two human children. Both were holding one of Thor's hands as they looked about the room with wide wary eyes.

"What is this?" Hammond asked, clearly confused.

Thor nodded to the boy. "This is Colonel O'Neill," he said and then nodded to the girl. "And this is Dr. Fraiser."

"But…" Sam began in disbelieving protest.

"It was the only way to save them," Warner said quickly. He turned his chair and gestured to the children. "Jack, Janet, come here."

Reluctantly the two children released Thor's hands and moved quickly to Dr. Warner who put a protective arm around each of them. Daniel couldn't help but stare in shocked recognition. They couldn't be more than four or five years old. Both were dark haired with brown eyes, and dressed in tunics and trousers of a silvery like material. As much as he wanted to deny it, his gut told him that this indeed was Jack and Janet. When Jack lifted his eyes and looked straight at Daniel it was like a punch in the stomach. He knew those eyes.

"Does anyone care to explain?" Hammond asked, dragging his gaze from the children to Thor.

To say the Asgard looked uncomfortable was an understatement. Thor's normally expressionless face revealed more emotion any of them had ever seen before..

"I will try to explain, General Hammond," Thor said as he moved closer to the table. Because of his size, he didn't attempt to sit down.

All eyes turned to focus on Thor. with the exception of Daniel who's gaze remained firmly fixed on Jack. The look in those dark eyes seemed to say 'I know you and I remember everything'. It sent a shiver down his spine. Reluctantly, he then forced his attention to Thor's explanation.

"After we beamed Colonel O'Neill's body to my ship and into a stasis pod, I interfaced his mind with my ship's computers," Thor said as he folded his hands in front of him. "It was my hope that with the help of the computers, Colonel O'Neill could find information in the database that would help us against the replicators. In that aspect, he was successful. I removed the database from his mind as I did before. His body returned to normal."

"So, what went wrong?" Sam asked as a diversion from her own memories of the time she was a prisoner of Fifth.

"I did not take into account that the Ancient Database and my ships computers are two different systems," Thor said. "I also did not take into account that Colonel O'Neill would have had to mesh both of the databases to determine a solution. The speed of thought required, along with the augmentation of our computer matrix, heightened his innate abilities. Instead of removing the information it was pushed into his subconscious, allowing his body to return to normal health. It is also why the results of your medical exams were unremarkable when he returned."

"So, what does that mean?" Sam asked.

"It means that while O'Neill was interfaced with the Asgard computer,, his mind or mental software upgraded itself to handle the job," Warner said.

The explanation made sense to Sam. "Following that analogy, his brain was still configured for the previous version of software."

Warner nodded in agreement. "His brain wasn't designed to handle that much information," he stated simply. "We learned that the hard way. Unfortunately, the new mental 'software' was acting like virus on his 'hardware'.

Daniel watched as Thor looked back and forth between Sam and Warner as they tried to understand the situation in more primitive terms. He found his eyes drawn to the children. They were both staring at him. Daniel frowned slightly. It was almost as if they wanted to be with him and were wondering if he would want them. Unconsciously, he straightened in his chair. Of course he wanted them. They were his friends, his family. If they had to grow up all over again then he would make sure they would be happy and loved.

Without a word Jack and Janet slipped from Warner's embrace and quickly moved around the table to Daniel's chair. Smiling, he helped them up to sit in his lap, and they leaned back against the warmth of his chest. His smiled his amusement as they both stuck thumbs in their mouths.

"That doesn't explain why they are now children," Hammond said before Sam could begin a technobble ramble over the theory.

This time Thor answered. "Our doctors tried everything we could think of," he said. "They attempted to remove the excess data from Colonel O'Neill's and Dr. Fraiser's minds but the information was so firmly fixed we failed. We then attempted to reconfigure the pathways in their brains to handle the data. However, once a human has developed past their puberty stage it is not possible to do this without causing additional damage. When Dr. Warner commented that the human brain was highly adaptive in your young, we realized we had one last option. Therefore, we chose to regress their physical forms to an age that would adapt and utilize the information."

Teal'c spoke for the first time in the discussion. "If I comprehend correctly," he said slowly. "These children have the complete knowledge of not only the Ancients, but the information contained in your computers?"

Thor nodded. "In addition to the memories of their lives to this point," he said.

All eyes turned to the children who were now firmly ensconced in Daniel's lap. Jack and Janet curled up against the archeologist chest as his arms came around them more protectively.

"At least they are alive and healthy," Daniel said into the silence.

To be continued


End file.
